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Participating Frequently
Feb 28, 2026 5:37 PM UTC
Question

Effects and Presets Questions

I am experimenting with various Effects & Presets by dragging them onto animated image layers in the Timeline.

  1. Is there somewhere that you can see a summary of how all the different effects look when applied?
  2. How do you specify when you want an effect to start after being dragged to the layer since it is applied to the entire layer? What if I want some effect to only be applied at the beginning or the middle or the ending of a clip?
  3. I applied three different effects to animated text and I only see the parameters for it in the Layers and not in Effect Controls. Why are they not displaying in Effect Controls?

Thanks

    4 replies

    thepixelsmith
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    Mar 5, 2026 5:33 PM UTC

    Not a list really but the help files do have info on effects with details and images showing each.
    In AE go to Help> Effect Reference.

    This is the direct link: https://helpx.adobe.com/after-effects/using/effects-animation-presets-overview.html

    Motion Island has an old blog post with preview of some of the presets for text: https://blog.motionisland.com/after-effects-presets-text-animation/

    A youTuber name Jake in Motion has a playlist of all the effects in AE (at the time): 

     

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    Jerron Smith | www.thepixelsmith.com
    Community Expert
    Mar 1, 2026 2:32 PM UTC

    If you have Adobe Bridge installed you can select Browse Presets. Some of the Adobe presets have previews, but Animation Presets that you have installed, and presets from third party developers will not have previews. 

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    Participating Frequently
    Mar 1, 2026 7:27 PM UTC

    Where do you go to browse the presets? I am on Mac OS Tahoe. Thanks

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    Community Expert
    Mar 1, 2026 10:46 PM UTC

    From the After Effects/Animation menu, choose Browse Presets. If you have Bridge installed, it will open and show you a list of the presets. Most of the stock presets have previews.

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